Install /e/OS on a Samsung - Galaxy Tab A 8.0 (2019) gtowifi

This guide installs /e/OS on your gtowifi. Read it through once before you start, so you don’t hit surprises partway in. Downgrading from a newer OS version than the /e/OS build you’re about to install can cause instability or brick some devices — check your current OS version first. Flashing is done at your own risk: /e/OS builds are provided as best effort, without any guarantee, and the /e/OS project takes no responsibility for the consequences.

Requirements

  • Back up your important data to an external storage device — some of the steps below format the phone, wiping any backup left on it.
  • Charge your phone above 50%.
  • Enable adb on your PC — setup instructions.
  • Download every file listed in the Downloads section below before you start.
  • Use a real data cable — some cables only charge and can’t transfer data.
  • Enable USB debugging on your device — instructions.
  • Confirm your exact model in the Device Selector: where shown, hover the device name for the supported model number, and check it matches yours exactly.
  • Boot the stock OS at least once and check everything works — SMS, calls, and both over WiFi and LTE if available (some devices need VoLTE/VoWiFi used once on stock to provision IMS). Whatever’s broken on stock stays broken on /e/OS.
Warning: Log out of any accounts (Google, Samsung, Mi Account, etc.) set on the stock ROM before proceeding. Most vendors enable Factory Reset Protection (FRP): after a factory reset, a device that's still signed in will ask for the credentials of that account before it can be used again. Also remove any screen locks.

Downloads for gtowifi

community /e/OS A14

Each of these pages also lists a separate /e/OS Recovery file where available — grab it from there when the install steps below ask for it.

Not sure which one to pick? See official vs. community builds.

Pre-Install Instructions

Warning: The following instructions will unlock the bootloader and wipe all userdata on the device.

  1. Connect the device to a Wi-Fi network.

  2. Enable Developer Options by pressing the “Build Number” option at least 7 times, in the “Settings” app within the “About” menu

    • From within the Developer options menu, enable OEM unlock.

  3. Download this package.

    Warning: If you skip this step, you will not be able to boot any custom image!

  4. Power off the device, and boot it into download mode:

    • devices.download_boot_gts4lvwifi
    • Now, click the button that the onscreen instructions correlate to “Device unlock mode” and/or “Unlock Bootloader”.
    • Device will restart, repeat steps 1 and 2 to enable the Developer Options menu again.
    • Verify that “OEM Unlock” is still enabled and continue to step 5

  5. Download and install the necessary drivers.

    • Download the newest Samsung drivers from here.
    • Install SAMSUNG_USB_Driver_for_Mobile_Phones.exe.

  6. Download this version of Odin.

  7. Extract “Odin_3.13.1.zip”.

  8. Run Odin3 v3.13.1 found in the newly extracted “Odin_3.13.1” folder.

  9. Check the box labeled next to the button labeled “BL”, and then click the “BL” button.

    • In the menu that pops up, select the previously downloaded package .tar file.

  10. Power off the device, and again boot it into download mode:

    • devices.download_boot_gts4lvwifi

  11. Check in the top left of the Odin window that you see a valid device, it will show up as something like COM0.

    Tip: The COM port, or the number succeeding COM, may be any valid number.

  12. Click “Start”. A transfer bar will appear on the device showing the package being flashed.

  13. Your device will reboot, you may now unplug the USB cable from your device.

    • After this step, your bootloader version will display as T290XXS3ATF1. This is a part of the bootloader unlock process.
    Warning: If, on this step, your device is stuck on a black screen, your device’s bootloader is not unlockable and you cannot continue with these instructions. To return to the stock ROM, boot to Download mode and flash the BL package here.

  14. The device will demand you factory reset, please follow the onscreen instructions to do so.

  15. Run through Android Setup skipping everything you can, then connect the device to a Wi-Fi network.

  16. Re-enable Development settings by clicking the “Build Number” option 10 times, in the “Settings” app within the “About” menu, and verify that “OEM Unlock” is still enabled in the “Developer options” menu.

Special Requirements

Caution: Your device must be on bootloader version: T290XXU3CVG3 otherwise the instructions found in this page will not work. The current bootloader version can be checked by running the command getprop ro.bootloader in a terminal app or an adb shell from a command prompt (on Windows) or terminal (on Linux or macOS) window.

Important Information

Caution: The following instructions require a machine running Windows 10 build 17063 or newer..

Samsung devices come with a unique boot mode called “Download mode”, which is very similar to “Fastboot mode” on some devices with unlocked bootloaders. Odin is a Samsung-made tool for interfacing with Download mode on Samsung devices. The preferred method of installing a custom recovery is through Download Mode – rooting the stock firmware is neither necessary nor required.

Tip: If this device’s install instructions already had you download Odin/Enable OEM Unlocking earlier in the installation process, you can skip steps 1, 3, 5, 6, and 7 below.

Installing a custom recovery using Odin

  1. Enable Developer Options by pressing the “Build Number” option 10 times, in the “Settings” app within the “About” menu

    • From within the Developer options menu, enable OEM unlock.

  2. Download the latest recovery file, mentioned in the Downloads for gtowifi section above.

  3. Rename the downloaded image to “recovery.img”, Open a Command Prompt in the folder where the file was downloaded, and TAR the file by running

    tar --format=ustar -cvf recovery.tar recovery.img
    Tip: The path may vary depending on where you download the recovery image.

  4. Power off the device, and boot it into download mode:

    • plug in the device while holding Volume up + Volume Down + Power.

    • Now, click the button that the onscreen instructions correlate to “Continue”, and insert the USB cable into the device.

  5. Download and install the necessary drivers.

    • Download the newest Samsung drivers from here. You will need to create a Samsung account and login to download them.
    • Install SAMSUNG_USB_Driver_for_Mobile_Phones.exe.

  6. Download this version of Odin.

  7. Extract “Odin_3.13.1.zip”.

  8. Run Odin3 v3.13.1 found in the newly extracted “Odin_3.13.1” folder.

  9. Check in the top left of the Odin window that you see a valid device, it will show up as something like COM0.

    Tip: The COM port, or the number succeeding COM, may be any valid number.

  10. In the left side of the Odin window, you will see an “Options” tab, click it, and then un-check the “Auto Reboot” option.

  11. Check the box labeled next to the button labeled “AP”, and then click the “AP” button.

    • In the menu that pops up, select the newly downloaded custom recovery .tar or .tar.md5.
    Tip: The filename may very depending on your device, and the version of your custom recovery.

  12. A blue transfer bar will appear on the device showing the recovery image being flashed.

    Tip: The device will continue to display Downloading... Do not turn off target!! even after the process is complete. When the status message in the top left of the device’s display reports that the process is complete, you may proceed.

  13. Unplug the USB cable from your device.

  14. Manually reboot into recovery, this may require pulling the device’s battery out and putting it back in, or if you have a non-removable battery, press the Volume Down + Power buttons for 8~10 seconds until the screen turns black & release the buttons immediately when it does, then boot to recovery:

    • With the device powered off, hold Volume Up + Power.
Caution: Be sure to reboot into recovery immediately after installing the custom recovery. If you don’t the custom recovery will be overwritten on boot.

Steps to install /e/OS from recovery

Use Volume to navigate and Power to select — to go back to the main screen, use Volume Up to choose the arrow at the top. If your PC can’t detect the device over adb, tap Advanced » Enable adb from the /e/OS recovery main screen.

Format the device

On /e/OS Recovery main screen:

  1. Select Factory reset

  2. Select Format data / Factory reset option

  3. Next screen will display a warning that this action cannot be undone

  4. Select Format data to proceed or Cancel if you want to go back

  5. If you selected Format data, the format process will complete

    You’ll see text in small font on the lower left side of the screen showing format progress, similar to this:

    Wiping data
Formatting/data
Formatting/cache
Data wipe complete

  6. Display will now return to the Factory Reset screen

Install /e/OS

In /e/OS recovery main screen:

  1. Select Apply Update and in next screen Apply update from adb

  2. In the next screen, the device is now in sideload mode

    Note at this point the Cancel option is highlighted that does not mean you have canceled the action. The device is in adb sideload mode.

  3. On your PC begin adb sideload. Type the below command in a console

    adb sideload downloaded_file_name.zip

    Replace downloaded_file_name.zip with the name of the /e/OS file you downloaded in the previous section

  4. Press enter key on the keyboard to start the sideloading The screen will show the progress percentage…This might pause at 47%

  5. Give it some time

  6. The PC console will now display Total xfer: 1.00x

  7. The phone screen will now display some text with a message similar to:

    Script succeeded result was [1.000000]

    This means that the install was successful.

Reboot the device

In /e/OS recovery main screen:

  1. Select Reboot system now

    The reboot process may take 5 - 10 minutes

Success: Congratulations! Your phone should now be booting into /e/OS.
To find some troubleshooting tips… click here

adb

  • Getting a Total xFer ':' 0.01x message - Try to upload the /e/OS to internal storage and retry to install
  • adb ':' sideload connection failed ':' insufficient permissions for device error - Try to execute the commands adb kill-server and adb start-server and retry
  • Getting an insufficient permissions error - Try the solution given here
  • When running "adb devices" in bash a device is shown as "unauthorized" - Try the solution given here

Bootloop

  • Issue specific to S9 and S9+ - Please refer this guide


Please share your experience , suggest tips or changes to this install guide documentation by visiting the Galaxy Tab A 8.0 (2019) specific topic on our community forum. To report issues in /e/OS please refer this guide

This documentation “Install /e/OS on a Samsung - Galaxy Tab A 8.0 (2019) - “gtowifi”” is a derivative of “install LineageOS on gtowifi” by The LineageOS Project, used under CC BY.